One Last Look
by Alone All Along
Summary: A Songfic. Cho Chang is confused by her conflicting feelings after kissing Harry Potter under the mistletoe. Is it right for Cho to love again following the death of Cedric? Lyrics are by Evanescence and the song is “Taking Over Me”.


One Last Look  
A Songfic  
  
Cho Chang is confused by her conflicting feelings after kissing Harry Potter under the mistletoe. Is it right for Cho to love again following the death of Cedric? Lyrics are by Evanescence and the song is "Taking Over Me".  
  
Author's Note: Hey! Thanks for reading my stories! This is another one-shot piece in the point of view of Cho Chang. I love getting inside Cho's head and making her my own character. My Cho isn't as prissy and as popular as we usually see her. This story can be very dark so if you are a younger reader beware!!! I will write chaptered stories soon enough. It's just that time isn't always on my side!  
  
Disclaimer: I forgot to put this disclaimer on my earlier stories. I do not own any of these characters. I don't own Harry. I don't own Cho. I don't own Dumbledore. And I wish I could own Cedric but JK Rowling owns him too. Damn is she lucky. So please, dear god, do not sue me. Oh and I do not own the song, "Taking Over Me" either. Evanescence owns that.  
  
You don't remember me  
  
But I remember you  
  
Cho Chang stood there, crying alone in the Room of Requirement. She had just kissed Harry Potter and she was regretting every second of it.  
It wasn't that she didn't like Harry. Actually the problem was that she did like Harry. She liked him a lot. The problem was that when she was kissing Harry she thought she was kissing Cedric again. That Cedric's lips were on hers again. That he was there.  
Was it right for her to be with Harry when she was still in love with Cedric? It wasn't right for her to toy with Harry's emotions like that. He had gone through too much and so had she. This wasn't right...or was it?  
  
I lie awake and try so hard  
  
Not to think of you  
  
Cho had spent countless nights lying there thinking about him. It was hard to forget him. Oh how much Cho remembered about Cedric Diggory, more than just his welcoming, calm sliver gray eyes or his sweet, charming smile. She remembered so much more...and trying to forget kept her from sleep.  
  
But who can decide what they dream?  
  
And dream I do...  
  
When Cho managed to get to sleep she was haunted by him still. Cedric had gone from haunting her thoughts to haunting her dreams. Cho wanted to control both realms: the land of her mind and the world of her dreams. She also wanted to have command over the most twisted world of them all: her very own heart.  
  
I believe in you  
  
I'll give up everything just to find you  
  
Cho wiped her eyes with her sleeve. She would not cry for him anymore. No, she had given up mourning him. He wasn't gone. No, she still believed. He wasn't gone. Cho still believed in him. She'd find him. Cedric wasn't dead. He couldn't be...  
Cho walked out of the Room of Requirement and took a left. She didn't care that the Ravenclaw Common Room was actually on the right. She was going to find him.  
Cho began to sprint down the long, dark of corridors and hallways of Hogwarts. She didn't know or care where she was going. All she knew was that Cedric Diggory wasn't dead...he was somewhere in here...he was just hiding...he was waiting for her to find him.  
  
I have to be with you  
  
To live  
  
To breathe  
  
You're taking over me  
  
So Cho ran through the maze of ghostly, shadow filled passageways with only one thought racing through her head. The thought of Cedric. The thought of seeing him alive again. The thought of his hand on hers. The thought of watching him breathe, watching him live. The very thought that began to take over Cho Chang, engulf her in world not her own: a world of Cedric, a world without death. An imaginary world of false hopes and desires.  
  
Have you forgotten all I know  
  
And all we had?  
  
Cho had not forgotten him or the times they had shared. Though before she had wished to forget them, erase them from her memory. But now these memories were what drove her, what fueled her passion. There was something else too, she heard him calling her. She would not refuse the call.  
Had Cedric forgotten her? No, he would not have. Never would he leave her, never would he have forgotten her. And she would not forget him...no; she would not forget him that easily.  
  
You saw me mourning my love for you  
  
And touched my hand  
  
I knew you loved me then  
  
Cho stopped and collapsed onto the ground. She had run of breath from running so hard. Cho was a fast runner. She leaned on the wall and sunk to the floor while remembering the one moment with Cedric that always stuck out. The time she had fallen in love with Cedric Diggory. Cho had been in the library. She was crying over Cedric and had chosen to take refuge among the books. At that time what she had felt for Cedric was a mere crush: nothing more, nothing less. "Cho? Is that you?" Cedric had called as he heard a muffled cry. "Yes," admitted Cho. "What's wrong?" asked Cedric worriedly. "Oh, nothing. Cedric, you really shouldn't have come looking for me..." replied Cho with a sniffle. "I was worried about you, Cho," lectured Cedric as he sat down next to her. "Really?" asked Cho with a sort of half smile. "Yes, we all were, but me especially," answered Cedric warmly as he put his hand on hers. That was the moment Cho Chang's crush changed to something more and she knew that Cedric loved her, too.  
  
I believe in you  
  
I'll give up everything just to find you  
  
Cho regained her breath and raised her head. She was eye to eye with Mrs. Norris, the caretaker's "watch cat".  
"Oh damn," cursed Cho as the cat went off to fetch her master.  
Cho got up and continued to run she needed to escape from Filch. And she needed to do it fast.  
"Come out, come out wherever you are. I know there is a student out of bed," called Filch angrily as he stalked after her.  
Cho halted and crept into a doorway to avoid been seen by Filch. She had no choice, she was going to either go into the room or deal with Filch.  
Cho opened the door slowly and silently shut it. She looked around. It must have been a very old classroom or something. It couldn't have been used recently. There were dusty books on the cobwebbed desks. But what caught her attention the most was the large gold trimmed mirror in the middle of the room. Cho had never seen anything as elegant or as beautiful. It had to be extremely old, possibly an antique. But Cho felt there was something about this mirror she did not like. It had an eerie presence, a haunting, spectral aura surrounding it. There was a small voice in her head that whispered, Don't as she walked to it. There was another voice, though. This voice was strong not feeble like the one in her mind. This voice called to her, Cedric's voice was telling her to go to the mirror. She could not ignore it; she was too tempted.  
  
I have to be with you  
  
To live  
  
To breathe  
  
You're taking over me  
  
Cho walked up to the mirror but did not look into it. Her eyes gazed up at the top of the mirror and read: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on whoshi.  
What in the name of Merlin is that supposed to mean? Cho asked herself. She thought it had to be in some dead language like Latin or Aramaic or something.  
Cho thought and thought about why she couldn't read it. She kept on questioning herself, why couldn't she read it?  
Then she realized. She had been asking herself the wrong question. Maybe she should have been asking herself, how could she read it. Then it hit her. The writing was on a mirror; maybe it was a mirror image!  
Ishow no tyo urfac ebu tyo urhe arts desire. What? Cho was too confused. But she tried again. I show not your face but your hearts desire. She got it!  
Her hearts desire. Cho knew what her heart's desire was. She had done it. She had found him. Cho stood in front of the mirror.  
  
I look in the mirror and see your face  
  
If I look deep enough  
  
Cho let out a gasp. There right next to her was Cedric Diggory, smiling.  
"C-C-Cedric?" Cho stumbled as stared into the mirror.  
Cedric nodded his head happily, his grin growing larger.  
"Is it really you?" she asked again awestruck.  
He nodded his head again.  
"I knew it! I knew it! I knew you weren't dead, Cedric. You don't know how much you scared all of us...when Harry brought out your body from the maze..." Cho shuddered she didn't want to think about that now.  
Cedric shook his head as to say, "Don't think about that." He was back. He was there. He was alive.  
Cho smiled as a tear rolled off her face. There was no need to mourn him.  
"Cedric, there are so many things I want to tell you. The world has changed..." began Cho quietly. Cedric raised a finger to her lips signaling her to stop.  
"What? Don't you want to hear what's been happening?" asked Cho flabbergasted.  
He shook his head. Then he pointed at her and smiled.  
"Yeah...well nothing really interesting has happened...I love you, Cedric," said Cho sweetly.  
He put his hand on her shoulder and a tear cascaded down his face.  
"I missed you," whispered Cho so softly almost too quietly to be heard.  
The time quickly passed. But time did not matter to Cho anymore. With Cedric there she didn't care if hours, days, weeks even years had passed. She could spend a lifetime looking into those warm, gray eyes.  
"Good evening, Miss Chang," greeted Dumbledore unexpectedly in his usual all knowing voice.  
Cho jumped and turned around. Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, was sitting on one of the ancient desks with a dusty book in his hands. He was wearing a superbly embroidered purple and gold dressing gown over his plain white nightshirt and on his feet were gold silky slippers.  
"Professor!" shouted Cho, obviously very shocked.  
"There is no need to be alarmed, Miss Chang," replied Dumbledore.  
Exactly where had Dumbledore come from? Had he been in the room all along? Had he been...following her?  
"Miss Chang, don't not worry. I have not been spying on you all evening," said Dumbledore as though he just read her mind.  
"I suppose you have discovered the secret of the Mirror of Erised?" asked Dumbledore as he got up from the desk and walked over to the mirror.  
"Yes, Professor," replied Cho obediently.  
"Ah! A true Ravenclaw," responded Dumbledore with a smile.  
The room remained quiet, while both of them were silent.  
"You see him, don't you, Cho?" asked Dumbledore quietly.  
"Yes," she replied.  
"Do not be fooled. That is the mirror's purpose. The strongest of men have fallen victim to the Mirror of Erised. It is wrong of me to think that you, a broken hearted girl could overcome it's power," announced Dumbledore in a sorrow tone.  
"He's dead, Cho," said Dumbledore sadly as he looked at her with his pale blue eyes.  
The room went silent again. Then Cho diminished the stillness.  
"No...he's right here...he's ALIVE! ALL OF YOU GAVE UP! I HADN'T! I STILL BELIEVED! AND HERE HE IS! HE IS NOT DEAD!" screamed Cho gazing back into the mirror again.  
"He's dead, Cho. Cedric Diggory died last June at the hands of Lord Voldemort. There was nothing we could do," answered Dumbledore solemnly.  
Cho broke down. Tears began to fall down her pale face. She clutched the mirror. She kept on seeing the same image flashing in her head, the image of Cedric's body being pulled out of the maze, the screams, the shouts, the confusion. She saw the vision of her running to him, looking into his dead, lifeless gray eyes. No...it couldn't be...he was not dead...she was living it all again and it was killing her.  
"Miss Chang...I can't express how sorry I am but... 'Death is not the worst of all evils' An American Muggle said that," replied Dumbledore as he put his hand on her shoulder.  
Cho got up. Now she was more than heartbroken or depressed, she was angry.  
"Excuse me Professor, but I hope you do not mind me asking... HOW CAN YOU KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT DEATH? YOU HAVE NEVER DIED! YOU ARE WHAT...150 YEARS OLD? HOW OLD WAS CEDRIC? EIGHTEEN! CEDRIC WAS EIGHTEEN! I want to know how you can talk about death like it's nothing when YOU have NEVER died!!" shouted Cho so loudly that it blew the dust off some of the books.  
"Ah...very good question, Miss Chang. You are absolutely right. I have never died. But does that mean I am not the best judge of death? I have seen death, Miss Chang. Death like no one has ever seen before. I have seen the best of wizards die at the hands of evil, I have seen children obliterated by curses not meant for them, I have seen lives that have been torn apart by death. In the end, Cho, you make a good point. How should I be able to talk about death when I have never experienced its full power? Fate is a terrible thing, if you believe what the Muggles think about it," replied Dumbledore full of unseen emotion.  
"If you say that death is not the worst of all evils, then what is?" asked Cho as she tried to regain her composure.  
"Miss Chang. You are an extremely bright young woman. You do not know how many people of come to me asking that very same question. Yet I cannot answer it, because even I do not know the correct answer. But someday you will know, Cho. Trust me...you will know," answered Dumbledore again his pale eyes ablaze with strong emotion.  
"When, Professor, when? When will the pain fade...when will the time come when I do not think about him everyday...When?" Cho questioned.  
"Another question I cannot answer. Cho...I imagine you have not forgotten the speech I gave last June?" inquired Dumbledore.  
"I have not forgotten it, Professor...but exactly...why," began Cho sounding very confused.  
"Do you recall me asking the school to, 'Remember Cedric'?" he asked again.  
"Yes...but," Cho began again puzzled even more.  
"Remembering is the first step in the healing process," reacted Dumbledore. This did not calm Cho down, it only made her much more upset.  
"BUT I DO NOT WANT TO REMEMBER! IT HURTS TOO BAD!" cried Cho hysterically.  
"That is why it is so hard to heal the wounds caused by death. Try, Cho. Please try. If not for me, for your father and mother. For your friends. For yourself. For Cedric," replied Dumbledore unbothered by the outbursts.  
"Why Cedric? Why did he have to die?" asked Cho quietly.  
"We may never know," responded Dumbledore.  
Silence spread across the room again only being interrupted by the slow soft sobs of Cho Chang.  
"Miss Chang, the mirror will be removed from this room as soon as tomorrow. I warn you not to search for its whereabouts. Men have wasted away at this mirror and others have gone crazy with lust," warned Dumbledore.  
"Yes, Professor. I will not come looking for it...a reflection can never compare to the real thing," replied Cho.  
"Would you like me to guide you back to your dormitory, Miss Chang?" requested Dumbledore with a smile, holding out his arm.  
"Yes, please. Thank you," answered Cho trying to rid her face of tears.  
"Um...Professor...may I have just one last look before we leave?" asked Cho.  
"Yes, I cannot deny you of that," replied Dumbledore.  
Cho walked up to the mirror and once again Cedric stood next to her, smiling happily.  
"Good bye," whispered Cho hardly making any sound at all. Cedric shook his head as though saying, "No! Don't leave!"  
Cho took Professor Dumbledore's arm and walked out of the room. With her other hand she waved. Cedric blew her a kiss then slowly faded, disappearing forever.  
"Good bye," Cho whispered again, knowing that somewhere, somehow she had finally said her last good-bye.  
  
So many things inside that are  
  
Just like you are taking over  
  
*This story is dedicated to the memories of Cedric Diggory and Sirius Black*  
It is also dedicated to anyone who has lost someone close to them  
And the pain has yet to fade  
  
Author's Note: Tadah! I am finished! I am sorry if I got a little too philosophical, I have a tendency to do that a lot. I also have this tiny problem with fragments. I talk in fragments. It is quite sad actually. I cannot stop.  
  
As you can probably tell I really like the band Evanescence...their music is phenomenal! I would recommend listening to the song, "Taking Over Me" before, during or after reading this story.  
  
Oh yes and the quote by the American Muggle was said by General John Stark in a toast written in a letter for the 32nd anniversary of the Battle of Bennington in 1809. The first part and more commonly know part of the toast; "Live Free or Die" was adopted by the state of New Hampshire as the state's motto. Sorry...I love history. It is one of my favorite subjects!  
  
What did you think? Did you like it? Did you hate it? Did you think it was total crap? Review, Review!!!! 


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